Page 173 - DnD 5e - Xanathar's Guide to Everything

APPENDIX A: SHARED CAMPAIGNS

Coordinating a regular schedule of D&D game sessions, In order to be s uccessful, a shared campaign needs
to keep a campaign active and vibrant, can be a chal- a champion-someone who takes on the responsibil-
lenge. If the campaign's only Dungeon Master or enough ity of organizing and maintaining the group. U you're
players aren't available, the next session might have to interested in learning more about how to run a shared
be postponed, and repeated problems of this sort can campaign and seeing how the Adventurers League
endanger the continuation of the campaign. handles certa in issues, then the rest of this appendix is
In short: in a world filled with distractions, it can be meant for you.
hard to keep a campaign going. Enter the concept of the
shared campaign. DESIGNING ADVENTURES
In a shared campaign, more than one member of the
Designing adventures for a shared campaign involves a
group can take on the role of DM. A s hared campaign is
episodic rather than continuous, with each play session different set of considerations than designing for a stan-
dard group of players. Most important, the adventure
comprising a complete adventure.
must be timed to conclude when the session is sched-
The largest shared campaigns are administered by
the D&D Adventurers League and overseen by Wizards uled to end. You also need to balance combat encounters
for a range of levels, since a wide range of characters
of the Coast. You can also create your own shared cam-
might be experiencing the adventure at the same time.
pa ign for a school D&D club, at a game store, a libra ry,
or anywhere else where D&D players and DMs gather.
ADVENTURE DURATION
A shared campaign establishes a framework that al-
lows a player to take a character from one DM's game Every adventure in a shared campaign begins and ends
to another one within the shared campaign. It creates a in the same play session. (If a group of participants
situation where almost nothing can prevent a scheduled wants to take longer to finish and all are wiJling to do
session from happening. The roster of potential players so, they can exceed the time limit.) A session or an event
can be qu.ite large, virtually ensuring that any session can't end with the adventure unfinished, since there's no
has at least the minimum number of characters needed way to guarantee that the same players and DM will be
to play. If everyone shows up to play at the same time, available for the next session.
multiple DMs ens ure that everyone can take part. Typically, adventures in a shared campaign are de-
signed to take either 2 hours or 4 hours. In each hour of
play, assume the characters can complete the following:
CODE OF CO N DUCT
Time and time again, the core rulebooks come back to • Three or four simple combat encounters, or one or
the point that the most important goal of a D&D play ses- two complex ones
sion is for everyone involved to have fun. In keeping with • Three or four scenes involving significant exploration
that goal, it's a good idea for a shared campaign to have or social interaction
a code of conduct. Because people who don't normally
play together might end up at the same table in a shared Within these constraints, it can be difficult to create
campaign, it can be helpful to establish some ground rules open-ended adventures. A time limit assumes a specific
for behavior. starting point and endpoint. A good way to get around
On the broadest level, everyone in a shared campaign this restriction is to create an adventure with multiple
is responsible for making sure that everyone else has an possible endings.
enjoyable time. If anyone feels offended, belittled, or bul-
Location-based adventures also work well with this
lied by the actions of another person, the entire purpose of format. A dungeon presents a natural limit on character
getting together to play is defeated.
The basic code of conduct for a shared campaign might options, while strn giving the players choices. The ad-
venture could be a quest to defeat a creature or recover
be modeled on a similar document that another organiza-
tion or location uses. Beyond that, some special policies an item, but the path to achieving that goal can be differ-
might need to be added to account for what might happen ent for each group.
at the table when players and DMs interact. As a starting For more narrative adventures, try to focus on simple
point, consider the following material, which is excerpted but flexible encounters or events. For instance, an ad-
from the Adventurers League code of conduct. venture requires the characters to protect a high priest
During a play session, participants are expected to ... of Tyr from assassins. Give the players a chance to plan
out how they want to protect the temple, complete with
• Follow the DM's lead and refrain from arguing with the
DM or other players over rules. authority over the guards. A few well-fleshed out NPCs,
some of whom might be suspected of working with the
• L et other players speak, and allow other players to get
attention from the OM. temple's enemies, add a layer of tension. Consider leav-
• Avoid excessive conversation that is not relevant to the ing some details or plot points for the DM to decide. For
adventure. example, the DM might have the option to pick which
• Discourage others from usi ng social media to bully, member of the temple guards is the traitor, ensuring
shame, or intimidate other participants. that the scenario is different for each group.
• Make the DM or the campaign's administrators aware
of disruptive or aggressive behavior so that appropriate
action can be taken.

APPENDIX A f SHARED CAMPAIGNS